Super Bowls Ads: The Next Culture Wars Battleground

FRIDAY UPDATE 2: CBS has officially rejected the ad from ManCrunch.com, which you can watch in this post.
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↵The furor over the Focus on the Family Tim Tebow ad will likely only continue to build as Super Bowl 44 approaches. Had they wanted, CBS could have invoked just as much anger from the right wing had they approved a salacious proposed ad for gay dating site ManCrunch.com that was submitted for inclusion during the Super Bowl broadcast.↵↵⇥The 30-second spot shows two men excitedly watching the game, before their hands brush as they both reach into a bowl of chips. Suddenly, the two begin making out, much to the shock of a guy sitting close by. ↵⇥According to a rep for the dating site, which operates under the slogan “Where Many Many Many Men Come Out to Play,” the ad was submitted on Monday, January 18th. When the site followed up on the status of the ad on Friday, January 22nd, they were told by CBS that “the spot hadn’t been officially approved yet” by network standards, and that “all the Super Bowl spots were sold out.”↵⇥↵⇥“ManCrunch requested the spot get reviewed anyway just in case another advertiser drops out and a spot becomes available, as often happens, and CBS agreed,” added the site’s rep. ↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥ManCrunch officials said they believe CBS has no intention of airing a commercial for their gay dating service, “but do not want to officially ‘reject’ the spot out of fear there may be a backlash from gay advocacy groups.”↵⇥

↵↵↵Methinks ManCrunch officials are dead on with this one. There’s little to no chance CBS will give the ad any real consideration for airtime. Maybe had the commercial been toned down a bit from two guys wildly making out. Not that there won’t be ads with hetero people going at it, but physical interaction between gay people is still probably too shocking for a conservatively minded Super Bowl audience, I’m guessing.↵

↵↵It’s kind of a shame, though. I would recommend scheduling the ad immediately after the Tebow spot during the same commercial break, if only to see the resulting indignation from both sides of the political spectrum, which would inevitably lead to an ideological melee on the 50-yard-line during the game. But then it could also result in mass protests, thus damaging those cherished Super Bowl ratings. That might be something of a negative, and less entertaining upshot. ↵

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